Apparatus and method for maintaining recording head
US7712864B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 26, 2005 |
| Grant date | May 11, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 16, 2028 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB41J2/1754
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus for maintaining a recording head which has a nozzle opening in a nozzle-defining surface thereof, and ejects, from the nozzle, a droplet of an ink toward a recording medium, in a state in which the recording head is separate from a remaining portion of a recording device. The apparatus includes a cover member which is adapted to air-tightly contact the recording head to cover the nozzle-defining surface of the recording head such that a space is formed between the cover member and the nozzle-defining surface. The apparatus further includes a selectively communicating device which can selectively take (a) a first state thereof in which the selectively communicating device allows the space to communicate with an atmosphere so that substantially no difference is produced between an air pressure in the space and an atmospheric pressure, when the cover member is air-tightly contacted with the recording head; and (b) a second state thereof in which the selectively communicating device shuts off the communication between the space and the atmosphere, and thereby air-tightly closes the space, after the cover member is air-tightly contacted with the recording head.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.